Some of us at Electric Imp are die hard hockey fans. We love the intensity and fast pace of the game, but our busy schedules and the places we live don’t allow us to get as close to the action as we would like. Thankfully, there is now a novel way to follow our favorite cities and keep track of all the goal scoring action in real time.
In summer 2012, Australia-based creative product agency, Buzz Products, chose the Electric Imp platform to create an Internet-connected product for Budweiser Canada – the Budweiser Red Lights. Buzz was engaged by Budweiser and their creative agency, Anomaly, to develop a product that would elevate the hockey goal scoring experience – an authentic-looking goal light similar to the iconic lights found in many hockey arenas throughout Canada and the U.S.
The Budweiser Red Lights were required to flash and sound in real time to alert fans each time their favorite hockey city scored, with the ability to receive data for thousands of goals simultaneously across Canada.
Buzz had considered a variety of WiFi and Bluetooth-oriented options to solve the challenge of connectivity for the Budweiser Red Lights. Ultimately, Electric Imp’s uniquely innovative hardware, software and cloud-based platform was deemed the most suitable end-to-end solution. Electric Imp possessed the ability to scale across thousands of devices and provide a solid infrastructure for the hardware and software technology Buzz created for the light.
While the Budweiser Red Lights are currently only available to residents of Canada, Buzz and Electric Imp have assisted Budweiser Canada and Anomaly in revolutionizing the way our friends to the North celebrate game time, giving them a little piece of the in-arena game action wherever they install their Budweiser Red Lights.
To learn more about why Buzz decided Electric Imp was the right solution for their needs, check out the case study.